Saturday, June 11, 2016

There is an undiscovered city beneath Mount Kulen. Photograph: Terence Carter

Using LiDAR laser scanning technology archaeologists have discovered multiple cities between 900 and 1,400 years old beneath the tropical forest floor, some of which rival the size of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. The recently analyzed data shows that the colossal, densely populated cities would have constituted the largest empire on earth at the time of its peak in the 12th century.

A scan taken in 2012 revealed some of Mahendraparvata on Phnom Kulen but that was only part of the picture.